Varian NMR (Palo Alto, CA) manufactures nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy systems for pharmaceutical companies
and university laboratories. The systems, which are used to test
drugs and study the behaviors of organic compounds, include an
8-foot-tall superconducting magnet into which a test sample is
placed and then irradiated. To spare scientists having to climb
up and down a set of wooden step to place each sample--possibly
hundreds of times in a day--Varian NMR includes a vial autoloader,
designed and manufactured by automated systems builder Chad Industries
(Anaheim, CA).
The
loader, dubbed the 768AS Sample Transfer System, includes a
pair of
manipulators that take sample vials from a standard
96-sample vial holder, load them into a positioning collar known
as a "turbine," and then load the turbine into the
magnet.
Chad Industries equipped the system with two manipulators to
ensure that it keeps pace with the spectroscopy system's maximum
sample test rate. Specifically, while one manipulator is waiting
to retrieve the vial from the magnet when the test completes,
the second manipulator removes the previous test sample vial
from its turbine and exchanges it with an untested sample.
Before being placed in the magnet, each vial goes through a
thermal preconditioning station. The vials, which are made of
glass and measure 100 by 5 millimeters, are also fragile, which
means they must be handled delicately.
Because it operates in a highly magnetic environment, the 768AS
system includes as little ferrous metal as possible. Chad Industries
also created a Cartesian parallelogram structure featuring a
two-axis stage that allows the loader's motors--the two most
magnetic components of the system--to be located as far from
the superconducting magnet as possible.
"The system provides us with the speed, accuracy and precision
that we need to develop the complex sample handling strategies
that are necessary for our project," says Bruce Lix, one
of Varian NMR's customers at the University of Alberta (Alberta,
Canada). "To my knowledge, this is the only solution on
the market that can make that claim."
For
more information on automated material handling, call 714-938-0080,
visit http://www.chadindustries.net or
eInquiry 3.
